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  5. Population genomics confirms acquisition of drug resistant Aspergillus fumigatus infection by humans from the environment
 
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Population genomics confirms acquisition of drug resistant Aspergillus fumigatus infection by humans from the environment
File(s)
FinalVersion_NatMicro.docx (89.59 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Rhodes, Johanna
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Infections caused by the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus are increasingly resistant to first-line azole antifungal drugs. However, despite its clinical importance, little is known about how susceptible patients acquire infection from drug resistant genotypes in the environment. Here, we present a population genomic analysis of 218 A. fumigatus from across the United Kingdom and Ireland (comprising 153 clinical isolates from 143 patients, and 65 environmental isolates). First, phylogenomic analysis shows strong genetic structuring into two clades (‘A’ and ‘B’) with little interclade recombination and the majority of environmental azole resistance found within Clade A. Secondly, we show occurrences where azole resistant isolates of near identical genotypes were obtained from both environmental and clinical sources, indicating with high confidence the infection of patients with resistant isolates transmitted from the environment. Third, genome-scans identified selective sweeps across multiple regions indicating a polygenic basis to the trait in some genetic backgrounds. These signatures of positive selection are seen for loci containing the canonical genes encoding fungicide resistance in the ergosterol biosynthetic pathway, whilst other regions under selection have no defined function. Lastly, pangenome analysis identified genes linked to azole resistance and novel resistance mechanisms. Understanding the environmental drivers and genetic basis of evolving fungal drug resistance needs urgent attention, especially in light of increasing numbers of patients with severe viral respiratory tract infections who are susceptible to opportunistic fungal superinfections.
Date Issued
2022-04-25
Date Acceptance
2022-02-23
Citation
Nature Microbiology, 2022, 7
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/95324
URL
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01091-2
ISSN
2058-5276
Publisher
Nature Research
Journal / Book Title
Nature Microbiology
Volume
7
Copyright Statement
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other
third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license,
unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in
the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly
from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by/4.0/.
© The Author(s) 2022
License URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council [2006-2012]
Wellcome Trust
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Wellcome Trust
Identifier
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01091-2
Grant Number
NE/P001165/1
219551/Z/19/Z
NE/P001165/1
MR/R015600/1
06689/Z/02/Z
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Microbiology
AZOLE RESISTANCE
SEQUENCE
IDENTIFICATION
ITRACONAZOLE
INSIGHTS
FORMAT
HEALTH
Anti-Infective Agents
Aspergillus fumigatus
Azoles
Drug Resistance, Fungal
Humans
Metagenomics
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Humans
Aspergillus fumigatus
Azoles
Anti-Infective Agents
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Drug Resistance, Fungal
Metagenomics
0605 Microbiology
1108 Medical Microbiology
Publication Status
Published
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